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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375390">if you're ready (like i'm ready)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexa_lives_in_us/pseuds/lexa_lives_in_us'>lexa_lives_in_us</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Janaya Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Family, Future Fic, Janaya Week 2020, Post-Season/Series 03, and cute, janaya - Freeform, pure fluff, soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:20:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,703</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexa_lives_in_us/pseuds/lexa_lives_in_us</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Janaya Week - Day 4: Family</p>
<p>They’ve been together for so long, but nothing has really settled.<br/>They’re together, and they’re happy, but Janai wakes up one day, brings breakfast in bed to Amaya, and realizes she wants more.<br/>Not more as in something different.<br/>More as in exactly the same for the rest of her life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amaya &amp; Callum &amp; Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum &amp; Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ethari/Runaan (The Dragon Prince) [Mentioned], Janai &amp; Kazi (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Janaya Week 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1606216</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Family</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>if you're ready (like i'm ready)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am writing these things half asleep and with one eye closed.<br/>Please bear with me.<br/>Unbeta'd</p>
<p>(Thank you, Sol for your input &lt;3 )</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Day 4 - Family</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Janaya Week 2020</strong>
</p>

<p></p><div>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>It’s really hard to surprise Amaya.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai has tried, several time over the course of the years.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A part of her finds it endearing. It’s amusing and challenging and quite honestly, she can’t help but love the smug smile Amaya gives all of them when yet another surprise has failed.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Callum and Ezran have given up, Janai thinks, way before they all even met.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Rayla has never even tried. But the girl is not really one for surprises anyway.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Gren, and apparently Soren, too, are the only two people Janai has talked to who are still holding onto the belief that Amaya can be surprised.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>By something, or someone.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Gren has tried to throw her a surprise birthday party almost every year, now. He’s tried to throw a party two months in advance or three later, hopeful that the timing would’ve prevented Amaya from finding out.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But Amaya is just like that. She can smell bullshit and she can smell secrets.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>In all honesty, Janai thinks as the new attempt at surprise from Gren has gone to hell, their younglings are not that good at keeping secrets anyway.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai smiles to herself at the thought.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They’re not their kids, of course.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They didn’t birth them, they didn’t adopt them either.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It wouldn’t make sense considering that Runaan and Ethari are Rayla’s adoptive fathers, and that Sarai and Harrow will forever be Callum and Ezran’s parents.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Soren has had a terrible experience with his own family, but they can’t replace what it has been, only help him heal.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Aanya has had her mothers, and they can’t nor won’t replace them either.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Kazi comes straight out of the Lux Aurea court, and even though it’s taken some time for them to get used to the familiarity of it all, they’re now part of that dysfunctional group of kids who still goes to the lake to play ball even after Ezran comes of age.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But Amaya and Janai are a thing, a very unique and solid thing, and all these kids are theirs.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They’re their younglings, their little ones.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Even watching as Ezran, finally eighteen, finally ready to carry the burden of leadership, kneels in front of Amaya for the passage of the crown, Janai can’t think of him as any different than a child.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She knows that, in a way, they will always be children in hers and Amaya’s eyes.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>The war has taken a lot out of them.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The years spent after Zym’s birth are ones for rebuilding and challenging and working.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya takes over the throne as Queen regent, not because she wants to, but because Ezran asks her to. And Gods know Amaya can’t say no to her nephews.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai takes over her own throne, in Lux Aurea. She doesn’t want it either, but there is a tradition of a monarchy that is hard to leave behind.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>So, as Amaya works in Katolis to include and integrate the new Elven population in their land, as Callum and Rayla travel around Xadia to let him pursue his studies of the Arcanuums and her duties as new Dragon Guard, as Ezran learns the way of the sword and the ones of politics, and as Soren and Gren rebuild a wrecked army, Janai calls her brother to Lux Aurea.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Together, they start educating their people. They reunite the Council, they discuss at length of pros and cons of their way of living, and they finally reach a unanimous decision.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A historic one, at that.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>In their letters, during those times where Amaya is stuck in Katolis and Janai can’t leave Lux Aurea, she finds all the support she needs from her girlfriend.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>
    
  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>
    <em>Katolis is not ready to be left without a guide. None of the human kingdom is. It saddens me, although it is for the best.</em>
  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>
    <em>But you, my love, have brought more to your people than any ruler has done in centuries of history in Xadia.</em>
  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>
    <em>You’ve given them peace. You’ve given them hope. And you’re now giving them freedom.</em>
  </p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>So in those nights when sleep doesn’t come and the words of the Council bounce around in her head, Janai traces Amaya’s words with her fingers and finds the courage and the push that she needs.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s on a cold day of Spring, five years after the Storm Spire battle, that Lux Aurea becomes the first kingdom in Xadia to abolish the Monarchy.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>The road to vote and establish the New Republic is rocky and difficult. Janai has to use all her skills as a Golden Knight and the ones acquired in the few years as Queen to keep everything under control.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Her brother helps.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Kazi helps.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Callum helps.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya helps.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Absolutely everyone and their parents give a hand where they can, and support when they can’t.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And when everything is settled, when Lux Aurea starts to walk its first baby steps on its own, Janai has finally a freedom that she hasn’t had in years.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She can allow herself to be who she wants, and to be with whom she pleases.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She is still the Golden Knight of Lux Aurea, and an important Minister in the new Council, but she has the freedom to leave whenever she wants and stay in Katolis without having to rush back.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai experiences what it means to be the lover of the Queen regent in a human world, and it’s just another demonstration of how similar their worlds actually are.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Katolisians know her, they know her armour and the way she walks, they know she prefers blueberry pastries to the Sunberry ones. They know she hates riding horses and prefers her sabertooth tiger to any other mount. They know she loves Queen Amaya more than herself and they know that Queen Amaya loves her just as much.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>For the first time in what feels like forever, there is peace.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>So when Amaya finally steps down, passing the crown to Ezran, and getting back the same liberty that Janai has earned two years before, is to gift the human kingdom with serenity and peace.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They have been together, working and building and thriving, for more than seven years.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai doesn’t remember a time when all these people weren’t in her life.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Callum showing up to her chambers at ungodly hours, asking her once again to explain the Sun Arcanuum to him.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Ezran bouncing around the castle with his hair now braided, just like the late King Harrow, but with an old, happy Bait in tow.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Zym, now of the size of a small hill, greeting them at the outskirts of the city to take them up for a spin.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Rayla, and her stubborn fierceness that matherhood hasn’t managed to dampen.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Gren and Kazi, awkwardly flirting but never managing to get their act together.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Soren and his passion for cooking awfully hard cookies for all of them.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Runaan and Ethari, and the constant bicker she has with the first during joined dinners, while the second watches and shakes his head.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A time without Amaya, the love of her entire existence whom no words can really describe.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>And yet, they’ve been together for so long, but nothing has really settled.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They’re together, and they’re happy, but Janai wakes up one day, brings breakfast in bed to Amaya, and realizes she wants more.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Not more as in something different.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>More as in exactly the same for the rest of her life.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai knows exactly what she wants and what she has to do.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She’s seen Callum do it with Rayla a couple of years back, and although she doesn’t fully understand the meaning of that human ritual, she finds it endearing and fascinating.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She’s asked Callum about it afterwards, and he’s confirmed that there’s no mistaking one’s intentions when doing it.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>So Janai decides.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>That’s exactly what she wants to do...</p>
</div><div>
  <p>... But, Sun, is Amaya hard to surprise.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And so, she starts planning.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s a full season before they finally manage to go back to the Breach.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s a joyful tradition they’ve built throughout the years, both because they’ve met there, and because both of them had actually loved being stationed there, with the hot lava surrounding them and creating a barrier from the rest of the world.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai suggests they go and take a hike up to the Breach one weekend, and naturally Amaya says yes.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But of course, by the time they make plans to fly to the Banther Lodge first and then proceed by horse from there, half of Katolis has decided to join.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Callum, Rayla and the baby, Ezran in one of his rare moments of freedom from his royal duties, Zym, Soren, Gren, Kazi and, somehow, Queen Aanya, have packed their bags and shown up at the gates of the city.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai raises an eyebrow at her girlfriend and Amaya shrugs and grins, sheepishly.</p>
</div><div>
  <p><em>I swear I did say it was supposed to be a romantic getaway</em>.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai snorts, shaking her head.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She can’t be mad, or disappointed. She has no rush in the world, and if she has to wait for another, perfect occasion, then that’s what she’ll do.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But as they finally reach the Breach, Zym soaring the Sky above them and the group loudly bantering about the perfect flavour of pastry, Janai slows her horse down.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She watches as, one by one, the horses start climbing the path to where the Katolis outpost once stood, and to where now a different kind of resort has been established.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Everyone has grown.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>From young kids, these younglings have grown into fine adults.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They had seen war and hatred and blood and death.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And yet, all of them had made the choice to be good. To be kind. To be forgiving.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They have chosen a narrative of love, instead of one of vengeance, and Janai feels herself choke up at the thought that every single one of them is a wonderful, amazing person.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Every one of them has gone to ask for advice to either her or Amaya. Every one of them has had their ups and downs, their uncertainties and their triumphs.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai had been born into a war, and thanks to that war she’d earned something no one could’ve ever imagined.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A family.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Those same kids who are now singing and laughing on their way up the Breach, are her legacy. And she couldn’t be prouder.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Gentle fingers close around her wrist, and Janai looks down, then up again.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya shoots her a glance, her brows furrowed in concern, from the top of her own horse.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>
    <em>Is everything okay? Janai, I’m sorry if their presence has ruined our plans, but I haven’t spent time with-</em>
  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai gently grabs her hands, interrupting the quick stream of words and smiling softly.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“I could never be mad or sad about having our family around us. I am happy.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She chuckles to herself.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“It is actually that. I realized watching them how proud I am of all of them. How happy all of you make me.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya’s eyes soften.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She brings their horses even closer, and she leans forward to kiss her gently on the lips.</p>
</div><div>
  <p><em>Sap</em>. She signs with one hand, a smile on her face.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai rolls her eyes and swats her on the arm.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>The Dragon Lodge has been built by elves and humans together, a sign of hope and peace, and a promise to the future generations.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It stands right where the core of the Breach once was, right where Amaya and Janai had crossed paths for the first time, right where Amaya had blew the mountain down and saved Janai’s life.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s a special place, for them.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s a place that had been home for years, and a place where their lives had intertwined.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The kids know it, too.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They decide to leave their belongings at the Lodge and make their way down to the bottom of the waterfall of lava, to try and skip rocks on the magma and roast marshmallows for their hot chocolates.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya trots to where Callum and Rayla are fighting with the fussy baby who, true to who the parents are, wants to crawl <em>directly</em> into the lava.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai follows suit, enjoying the warmth and the familiarity of the view.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She puts her hands in her pockets and her stomach somersaults.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Her fingers graze at the small ring.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She’d forgotten about it.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>That is what the whole plan was supposed to be about. Surprising Amaya, getting on one knee like Callum had done and...</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai looks up.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Everyone is distracted.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They’re all there, playing, laughing, bantering.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Her family.</p>
</div><div>
  <p><em>Their</em> family.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>All of a sudden, Janai feels stupid for planning to do this without them there, originally. This is how it’s supposed to be.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And Amaya... Amaya is right there, a few steps away from her, completely unaware.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai feels her heart in her throat, but she grabs the ring from her pocket and gets down on one knee.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>Time stops.</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p>Or, well, everyone around her stop.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Kazi, Soren and Gren start squealing like adoraburrs.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Aanya releases a soft but quite unexpected "Well, <em>fu-</em>"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Ezran’s jaw almost hits the ground, and Zym’s roar literally makes the mountain shake.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>That’s actually what makes Callum, Rayla and Amaya turn around.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>At that point, Janai tunes out the rest of the world.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya’s eyes widen almost comically, and her mouth opens in complete, absolute, utter shock.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai holds her fist up, closed, then uses her other hand to sign.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>After all these years, she’s gotten really good at it.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“You are the love of my existence.” She starts, her voice shaking. “I have never loved nor I will ever love anyone like I do you, Amaya.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>You are my fire. My Sun. My everything.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai remembers Callum’s speech. She remembers how he’d talked, long and clear about his feelings for Rayla, about what they’d gone through and how in love he had been.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But Janai is not really one for many words, and she doesn’t really need to tell Amaya what she feels for her. Amaya <em>knows</em>. Amaya feels the same.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya stares at her, blinking.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai blinks back.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Auntie Jan...” Ezran whisper-shouts. “You’re supposed to actually <em>ask</em> her.”</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai nods. Right. She remembers that, too.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She opens her fist, showing the ring sitting on her palm. It’s a simple, golden flat band with blue markings.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Marry me?” Janai asks.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She knows the answer. She’s known even before planning the ordeal.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But seeing Amaya’s face split in the most beautiful of smiles, watching her as she nods, as she signs yes, yes, <em>yes</em>...</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s more than her heart can take.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They meet halfway, Janai still not even completely on her feet and Amaya half bent to reach for her. They kiss with urgency and pure heart filling happiness, and when finally they manage to part, Amaya enthusiastically flaps her hand in front of her face to get her to put the ring on it.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It’s slightly bigger than Amaya’s finger but they don’t mind. They can have it fixed.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They can do whatever they want.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai grins up at Amaya, tears streaming down their cheeks.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>“Surprise.” She chuckles.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Amaya rolls her eyes, trying and failing to pout: her smile is too big and her happiness too contagious.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai feels like bursting because, <em>Gods</em>, she loves this woman.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They get piled by the rest of the group, as they shout and squeal and scream their joy.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Janai still doesn’t understand that human ritual of kneeling, of giving a ring, of proposing.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Elves don't have that.<br/>Sunfire Elves barely have the concept of marriage as humans intend it.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>And yet...</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Before knowing humans, she never would’ve thought that such a gesture could hold so much power.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Or that a simple ring could feel so wonderful to see, to slide on her lover’s finger, nor that it could mean hundreds of promises in one.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>These people are indeed her legacy, and there are many things she still wants to teach them.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But they are her family, and she still has a lot to learn from them too.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, Runaan and Ethari are alive.<br/>Yes, they won the war and everyone is back and happy.<br/>Yes, the title is from Marry You by Bruno Mars.</p>
<p>Drop by my tumblr @ lexa-lives-in-us to chat :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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